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What makes this kōgō special
The up close look and feel
The lid carries a single plum branch, painted in iron oxide under an ash glaze in the e-Karatsu tradition: brushwork that is loose and immediate, not laboured. The glaze has the soft grey-green quality that Karatsu potters have been pursuing for centuries, with amber and rust-coloured kiln effects where the ash settled unevenly during the firing. Open the lid and the interior is glazed in a quiet celadon: a deliberate contrast, cool and still. The overall impression is of complete restraint. Nothing is performed. Everything is considered.
Charming details
The plum blossom is the earliest seasonal motif in the Japanese tea calendar, traditionally used at winter and early spring gatherings, before the cherry blossom has opened. The host who chose this motif for an 88th birthday gift was making a precise and layered statement: new beginnings, perseverance through cold, and the particular beauty of what blooms first. In the tea world, nothing on the table is accidental.
In Japan, an 88th birthday is called beiju, written with the character for rice, 米, which when taken apart reveals the number eighty-eight. It is one of the most celebrated milestones in a Japanese life, and it is tradition to mark it with a meaningful gift.
The note that comes with it congratulates the recipient on their beiju and expresses the hope that they will continue to devote themselves to the way of tea.
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Made by Inoue Koji (井上公之, born 1974), second generation of the Kyōzan-gama (鏡山窯) in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture.
He studied craft design at Tama Art University in Tokyo, then trained under Jun Isezaki, Living National Treasure in Bizen.
He subsequently worked alongside his father Inoue Toya (井上東也, 1942–2013), a celebrated e-Karatsu potter who had been recognised by Urasenke iemoto Hounsai as early as 1971.
After his father's death in December 2013, Koji has continued the kiln's tradition of working from the clay up, harvesting and preparing his own materials.
Signed: maker's mark on the base and the tomobako inscribed.
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Kyōzan-gama (鏡山窯), Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, Japan.
Made after 2006, exact year not recorded on the documentation.
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Weight: ca. 122 g.
Diameter: ca. 6.5 cm.
Height: ca. 4 cm.
E-Karatsu style: iron oxide underpainting under an ash glaze, wood-fired stoneware in a tradition practiced in Karatsu since the late 16th century.
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Excellent condition. No chips or cracks.
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Original signed tomobako.
Original yellow wrapping cloth.
The original letter from the Urasenke Tankōkai Sōhonbu in Kyoto stating the gift comes from Zabōsai 16th generation iemoto.
The maker's biographical brochure from Kyōzan-gama including care instructions for Karatsu ware.
*Decorative items such as the whisk are for styling
and scale purposes only and not included in the sale
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